Pope Shenouda III comments on the transfiguration of St Mary

Pope Shenouda III's lecture on Wed. 23/12/2009

commenting on the transfiguration of St Mary in Warrak

Transfiguration of St Mary ظهور السيدة العذراء مريم

هوذا مند الان جميع الاجيال تطوبنى لو1 :48

For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold,

henceforth all generations will call me blessed
Luke 1:48

The transfiguration of the ever virgin St Mary the mother of all in her church in Warrak-Cairo on Fri 11/12/2009 and continuing every night to date.

The church angels are:

Fr Dawood Ibrahim

Fr Yostos Kamel

Fr Bishay Lotfy

We acknowledge and thank Copts United; Rimon Yousef for the video and Michael Fares for his report (all in Arabic).

God bless them.

A message to Deacon Timon!!

To the Coptic Einstein..

To the management guru of the 21st century..

To the great theologian..

Please humble a bit and hear the message from this little child.

فانت اذا الذي تعلّم غيرك ألست تعلّم نفسك

....الذي تكرز ان لا يسرق أتسرق

الذي تفتخر بالناموس أبتعدي الناموس تهين الله

لان اسم الله يجدّف عليه بسببكم بين الامم كما هو مكتوب

رو٢ :٢١-٢٣-٢٤

You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?

You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?

For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written.

Rom 2:21-23-24

Fr Zakaria Botros responds to HE Bishop Bishoy..

Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm..

لا تمسوا مسحائي. ولا تسيئوا الى انبيائي

.

Are there Church Canons or not?!

Is there transparency and accountability?!

Is this flicking of muscles?

Is this a proof that most church decisions are unilateral?

Can we imply that church trials are window dressing?

.

What hope do we have with Ostaz Amir Hanna and AOE?!

.

God have mercy..

.

To view woldwide feedback to Fr Zakaria's reply, we refer you to Copts United website via this link http://copts-united.com/article.php?I=282&A=9988

Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm..لا تمسوا مسحائي. ولا تسيئوا الى انبيائي

El-Manara

Copts' News (church monthly magazine)

Volume 1, Issue 115 - Volume 2, Issue 27

Sunday 22nd Baba 1726AM - 1st November 2009

Translation of extracts from article on p3
V.R. Fr Tadros Samaan
Vicar General of the Diocese of Sydney and Affiliated Regions

لا تمسوا مسحائي. ولا تسيئوا الى انبيائي
Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm..

Request and Warning:
The Lord request that no one touch the anointed ones for His Holy service, not abuse them.

Contemplate with me what was the answers of David the king so that it may be a lesson for us to learn from;

فقال لرجاله حاشا لي من قبل الرب ان اعمل هذا الامر بسيدي بمسيح الرب فامدّ يدي اليه لانه مسيح الرب هو. 7 فوبّخ داود رجاله بالكلام ولم يدعهم يقومون على شاول...ه

And he said to his men,

"The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master,

the LORD's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him,

seeing he is the anointed of the LORD."

So David restrained his servants with these words,

and did not allow them to rise against Saul... 1Sa 24:6-7

فقال داود لابيشاي لا تهلكه فمن الذي يمد يده الى مسيح الرب ويتبرّأ... حاشا لي من قبل الرب ان امد يدي الى مسيح الرب... و

But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him;

for who can stretch out his hand against the LORD's anointed, and be guiltless?" ...
The LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD's anointed... 1Sa 26:9,11

We have to know and understand "what does the Lord's anointed mean"?

What does "You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people" Acts 23:5 mean?
رئيس شعبك لا تقل فيه سوءا

Translation of extracts from article on p5
Mr John Kiracos
كفانا... وكفانا
وماذنب الغالبية الصامتة

Enough... and Enough

And what is the guilt of the silent majority..?!

اني اضرب الراعي فتتبدد خراف الرعية
"I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered."

Mat 26:31

Sydney is crying out for help...

NB. We would appreciate the help of a translation service.

If you are capable of translating from Arabic to English and would like to help, please translate the attached articles and email them to us. God bless you.

Open letter to H.H. Pope Shenouda III...

On Sunday, 8 November 2009 3:46 AM, we received an email from Mr John Kiriacos "a respected member of our Coptic community in Sydney" with a suggested letter for everyone to send to H.H. Pope Shenouda III.

We would like to welcome Mr John Kiriacos on our site. Mr Kiriacos has been a regular columnist in the church magazines El-Manara and the Spring of Love for years. We thank him for his first contribution to our site and wish to regularly receive his thoughts to share with our readers.

We are proud to have him on board.

In this regard, we would like to invite every honest opinion to contribute to our site to further our cause.

The suggested letter is as follow:

+ بسم الله القوى +

إلى صاحب القداسة والغبطة البابا المعظم الأنبا شنودة الثالث

حفظه الله لنا سنين عديدة وأزمنة سالـمة مديدة

بعد تقبيل يديكم الطاهرة والمقدسة
كم كنت أود ياسيدنا أن أحضر بشخصى لكى أنال بركة قداستكم، وأيضاً لكى ألتمس منكم الرجاء بعودة أبينا المحبوب الأنبا دانييل إلى كرسيه بسيدنى، وذلك ليس فقط لحبنا له كمرشداً وراعياً لنا بل ومدافعاً عن عقيدتنا أمام المحافل والطوائف المسيحية المتعددة، وكذلك لإستكمال المشروعات ورسالته التى بدأها فى الكرازة خارج القارة الأسترالية

سيدنا.. كما نرجو أن نوضح لقداستكم بأنه هناك للأسف الشديد قلة من ضعاف النفوس ممن يحاولون الهدم والتقسيم لا البناء، بل ويزرعون الشك حول أسقفنا كما يسعون فى إصطياد وتجسيم الأخطاء من أجل غرض شخصى أو لكرامة ما .. إلخ ومحاولين بذلك زعزعة ثقة الأقباط فى راعيهم والذى إختاره لنا الرب على يديكم الطاهرة

ولهذا أناشد قداستكم بالتوصل إلى حكم ينصفنا ويصلح فى التقويم وتوجيه أى خطأ ربما حدث من دون قصد أو عمد، وذلك من أجل أن تستمر جاليتنا القبطية فى ترابط ومحبة وسلام الرب يسوع

وأنى على ثقة تامة بأن الروح القدس قادر أن يرشدكم لما هو صالح ونافع لنا وذلك لكى يرى الناس أعمالنا فيمجدوا أبانا الذى فى السموات

ولكم ياسيدنا جزيل الشكر والتقدير، كما نطلب الصلاة من أجلنا
والله يعطيكم كل الصحة ويقويكم فى الرسالة الملقاه على عاتق قداستكم

التوقيع
:الأسم بالكامل
:رقم التليفون
-----------------------------------------------

English translation;

In the name of the Mighty God

To His Holiness the Patriarch Pope Shenouda III

May God save him for us for many years and safe extended times.

After kissing your blessed and pure hands..
Much that I’d liked to attend in person to get your holiness’ blessing, and also to kindly plead for the return of our beloved Father H.G. Bishop Daniel to his seat in Sydney. Not only because of our love to him as a pastor and shepherd to us and also a defender of our faith to the forums and the various Christian denominations, but also to complete the projects that he initiated as well as carry on his missionary service outside the Australian continent.

Sayedna.. We also hope to clarify to your Holiness that there is unfortunately a few weak souls who try to demolish, divide and not build, and planting doubts about our Bishop. Also trying to hunt down and amplify the errors for personal agenda or ego, etc. .. and trying to undermine the Copts’ confidence in their pastor and the chosen by the Lord via your pure hands..

I therefore appeal to Your Holiness to kindly reach a decision to our best interest that shall correct and address any error that may have occurred inadvertently or unintentionally, in order for our Coptic community to continue in unity, love and peace of the Lord Jesus.

I am fully confident that the Holy Spirit is able to guide you for what is good and beneficial to us, so that they may see our good works and glorify Our Father in heaven...

We offer our sincere thanks and appreciation to Your Holiness, and ask to pray for us...

May the Lord give you all the health and strengthen you for the mission placed on your holiness.

...

Signature
Name in full:
Telephone:

NB. While we welcome all contributions; if your thoughts are in Arabic, we kindly ask you to please help us by sending a translated English version as well. It will save much needed time that can be better invested in organising and seeking other materials in support of our cause. It will also attract much wider audience.

Why Deacon Timon is so loose on us??? 2 of 2

Is it a good strategy that one side cries out loud and the other side blocking their ears as if they heard nothing?

Your Eminence, for how long do you think this strategy can continue?

Would anybody be happy seeing the name of our beloved Coptic Church ridiculed and muddied in the Australian courts?

As you are well aware, there have been a few court cases and there are many more in the pipeline.

Would anybody be happy to see us fighting each other in law suits?

For how long can few big heads control everything in Sydney and deprive the silent majority from peaceful and blessed life, just because of their hidden agenda?

Are we compromising everything in Sydney for just less than a handful of people.

Your Eminence, some are taking the silence of the church hierarchy as a sign of HGBD's guilt.

We know fair well this is not true.

However, if it is the case, please tell us honestly and frankly.

We will not be happy but we will accept it and get on with life.

But if it is not true, why HGBD is still away from his Diocese until now!

Please say something...

Pleas do not take our patience for granted, it is fast running out.

Your Eminence, the peaceful majority can not remain silent forever.

Please forgive us.

Why Deacon Timon is so loose on us??? 1 of 2

H.E. Metropolitan Bishoy, of Damiette, Kafr El-Sheikh, Barary and the Monastery of St Demiana and the Secretary of the Holy Synod on his recent appearance on Orbit TV.

Sayedna; please talk to us to end our confusion and all the speculations...

Do you like what is happening in Sydney by Deacon Timon and the AOE?

We desperately need to know your position from all of this.

Is it ok for a priest to publicly humiliate and ridicule his bishop?

Would you accept the same to happen to you from any one (priest, deacon or even a layman) in your Bishopric?!

Is it ok for an ordained deacon to sabotage the reputation of the entire diocese all over the media?

So many questions need answers...

Sayedna, please talk to us in any way shape or form.

We beg you.

We are very confused, what do we tell our kids?

We wish we have never lived to see this misery of our church in Sydney.

Sayedna, please tell us, what is happening now; right or wrong?!

Can somebody talk to us please.

Do you hear us in Egypt?

Your Eminence only heard one side of the story.

Your Eminence only heard from Mr Amir Hanna.

You did not hear us, the silent majority.

We have had enough.

Please tell us when this dilemma will be over?

Is Mr Amir Hanna that powerful and untouchable?

If so, please tell us frankly so we stop wasting our energy.

If so, anybody doesn't like it can find another denomination.

Stay true to your cause – part III

On November 2, 2009 4:45 PM, Anonymous has left a new comment on our post "A book OR no book ...":

Stay true to your cause – part III;

“Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:8-10

Beloved SMC Rescue Team;

Thank God for our Friend Sister “I”

This is my last post on this issue and I intend to maintain my purpose to persuade all to stay true to their cause.

Many responses asked me to reveal my identity believing that I am VR Abouna Antonious Kaldas, a certain “Sam Bas”, one of those you refer to as AOE or a close associate. I have already told you that I do not have any personal association with any of these dignified personalities or associations. It’s so unfortunate that hiding my name caused many to speculate and reveal their ill feelings towards others, may God forgive me and them.

Many comments asked me and other readers to condemn specific actions of certain members of the community. Please forgive me as I cannot submit to these requests because I do not have the awareness, the competency or the responsibility to pass these condemnations.

Many argue that, as parents, they should have a say in who runs the school. Again I am not an expert in the subject but I can tell them that there are different vehicles by which parents and community members could provide reviews on the school and its management and campaign to effect change either on the diocese or the Department of Education.

I will continue to support the school and the SMC Rescue Team in anyway I find beneficial. I will continue to review your blog but will generally refrain from commenting till such time the fruits of peace are seen in its posts.

May God help us all to see good in each other and may He heal all our wounds.

Please pray for me
--------------------------------------------- end of comment.

Smc Rescue Team said...

Dear our Anonymous Friend (Stay true to your cause – part III),

Thank you for your contribution and your continuous support for our cause. You have certainly enriched the blog with your comments.

We would like just to make you aware that the supposedly effective vehicles that you referred to by which parents could provide reviews on the school and its management (internal ones ie. P&F and the College Board) have been hijacked by associates of the AOE. Also, all the College top management have been appointed via direct intervention from the CEO of the AOE Ostaz Amir Hanna (please refer to our previous posts ie. Mr "N"). As such their alliance is to him (Ostaz Amir Hanna) and the AOE’s hidden agenda instead of working for the best interest of our kids and the college. His way or the highway. Of course, he wouldn't tell them directly to go like any respectable person. He would conspire to get them removed. He is effectively running the college by correspondence and the rest are defacto management!

There is still much more to be said.

As for the diocese, we all know of the coup that they have staged on HGBD which led to his self-chosen exile. We do not blame him, no respectable bishop would preside over such filthy and corrupt environment. We have also exposed their plan to excise the school from the diocese which was designed to have sole and unchallenged power over the college.

Therefore, we have no confidence in a change to come from within. As such, parents have resorted to the most dramatic step of requesting a government appointed administrator.

We understand that missing big part of the facts or the events of last year that led to our current dilemma can make it extremely difficult to form a just and fair opinion. Your opinion or that is of any other observer would be primarily built on what you can see now which is our fight back. However, this is not the full picture. There is more to the story.

Same applies to the church hierarchy headed by HH Pope Shenouda III. Their impression is also one sided because of the AOE's connections and high level lobbying.

We can assure you of our best intention because of the direct impact on our kids. But it is extremely difficult when you are faced with the like of an “Organized Gang”, which we have thought would never exist in the church or any of its establishment. However, this is reality and we are very determent to fight it and wipe it out. No matter how long it will take or cost.

They will not prevail, we promise you as we owe it to our kids and the future generations. With the Grace of God, evil must be defeated.

We will pray for you and we also kindly ask you to pray for us, for our kids and their college.

GBU.
SMC Rescue Team

A book OR no book ... (2)

On November 1, 2009 1:28 AM, our sister in Christ "I" has left a comment on our post “A book OR no book”:Anonymous said...

Dear SMC Rescue Team,

I wrote the post requesting that non of this be published, but so far, apart from your response (which I thank you for), I have only read very few opinions on this matter!!

This hate is spreading so fast in our community its scary.

How can we think clearly when so many of us can rush into thinking that everyone responding to a criticism must be siding with the 'enemy'??!

In response to the anonymous writer of "Why not? We assume you have not told Mr Hanna to remove or with draw all the posings on coptichistory.org!!. Nor have you asked Father Antonious to with draw the email he sent, or the hidden messages in his blog part of the church website..." - I admit I have not. The damage had been done already in these cases. I appealed to SMC to avoid causing a similar damage to our church. Forgive me for not doing more.

SMC, I appreciate your response and consideration in what I requested. And PLEASE don't get me wrong, but even though I hold a VERY high respect for what you have accomplished with this blog, I also need to note that SMC consists of men/women who are only human and are capable of making a mistake in this decision.

PLEASE HEAR ME OUT. I know you guys are intelligent and Just, so only take my comment as a loving Sister in Christ.

I don't know how many people keep up with this post or know what's going on with our church. My own mother, who like most of our mothers -keeps her ears open about the happenings in the community :)- did not know of how deep this issue goes and was shocked when I told her!!

The people in our community should have a say in this. Not only the ones who can use the internet or pass on messages through the grapevine.

A proper poll. Thats all I ask. And I hope SMC that you agree, as since it is your belief that publishing this book is for the best interest of our community; let them be involved in this decision.

This book will not only be attacking the people involved, but OUR WHOLE CHURCH. I hope you can see that.

SMC, you are pointing out HUMAN mistakes for your decision behind printing this book, THAT IS NOT RIGHT. That CANNOT be justified for what damage this book MIGHT do.

SMC, using point#6 to justify this book being published is NOT right. Fr Antonios was refering to the HOLY BIBLE. A BOOK written by GOD's wishes and His alone. But if he means a book written by man is just as good for history keeping of our church, then he is wrong in making such a comment. ONLY God should have the RIGHT to record the right and wrong in our history.

"The book shall stand as a history lesson for our kids and yours (the future generations) to learn from the past and how to deal with any future AOEs." - I believe this book will do the OPPOSITE of teaching what you expect. It will teach future generations to QUESTION the church and its priests. It will TEACH THEM DOUBT AND MISTRUST. No child after reading this book will EVER look at their confession father the same way or look at their community with respect. And that will be a sad thing to have to witness.

Can I simply ask that before anything is publish - even taking in consideration your reasons SMC - that you take a poll from as many people in our community as you can honestly get? And NOT ONLY via the internet OR this blog?

If I can assist in anyway to make this happen, or be guided by SMC in accomplishing this myself, please let me know and I will be happy to assist.

Your Sister in Christ
(For future comm) "I"
--------------------------------------------- end of comment.


Dear our Friend Sister in Chris “I”

Thank you for your comment.

We also thank you for your admiration to what the blog has accomplished which others are condemning, as you said “… but even though I hold a VERY high respect for what you have accomplished with this blog, …”.

You said “Forgive me for not doing more”. With humbleness, we are happy to forgive you for the Lord to forgive us all. In this regard and since you offered your assistance, all what we are asking is all members of the coup stand down, be brought to account for the damage they have caused and not to be involved in any future service in the diocese. Is this a fair call?!

Only then we can begin the process of healing and recovery.

You can kindly assist in our call by talking to members of coup, in the same manner you are communicating with us. Your comments reflect an intelligent and reasoned thinker and we are sure you can do it. You can talk with Ostaz Amir Hanna (mob. 0417 742 647) and Fr Antonios Kaldas (mob. 0411 712 896) as starting point and see if you can convince them. We will be praying for your success since we all want peace.

As for your accusation “This book will not only be attacking the people involved, but OUR WHOLE CHURCH”; this is farthest from the truth. God, we would never contemplate or allow ourselves to do that. The book is meant to be a history book documenting a sad and dark era of the Diocese of Sydney as it happened.

Then you are saying “ONLY God should have the RIGHT to record the right and wrong in our history.” Can you please tell us how would God document the history of our church?!

As for point #6 in our post “A book OR no book” (our response to your comment part I); we were referring to the context of his post “Looking forward to the Past”. If you read his post, the second sentence is “How do we deal with our history as a Church and as a community?”. Fr Antonios was referring to the coup on the reposed Pope Yusab II (Pope of Alexandria before Pope Kyrollos VI). He also said “3. Why doesn’t he appear very much in our histories, Sunday School Curricula, Youth Group Programmes etc?”. You can infer his criticism to hiding this part of the history from Sunday School Curricula, Youth Group Programmes etc. Here is the link again for your reference http://www.stbishoy.org.au/modules/wordpress/2008/04/07/looking-forward-to-the-past

You believe the book will do the opposite of its purpose. In fact, if you let those few wicked members get away with what they have done, what sort of signal are you sending to the rest of the community (current and future generations)?! Effectively, you are saying if you disagree with your bishop or your priest, gather few of your relatives, friends and supporters and start a coup and force your own hidden agenda on the majority! Is it not?!

Do nothing and you will achieve the same result that you are worried the book might cause.

You said “No child after reading this book will EVER look at their confession father the same way or look at their community with respect.” Without the book and in light of what has happened so far, how do you think they view their bishop or the priests who would like to excise certain establishments from the diocese?!

In response to your request for a public poll on the book, have you ever heard of an author surveyed the public opinion before publishing a book of any sort?!

Unless members of the coup stand down and be brought to account, the book will be published (full stop).

GBU.
SMC Rescue Team